The Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences acknowledges Australia’s First Nations Peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land and gives respect to the Elders – past and present – and through them to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are advised that the MAAS website contains a range of Indigenous Cultural Material. This includes artworks, artifacts, images and recordings of people who may have passed away, and other objects which may be culturally sensitive.

‘Instead SoftCup’ is one of the most recent menstrual products to have been developed. Made of modern thermoplastic material it is, however, based on an idea that is not new. Different kinds of menstrual cups have been manufactured since at least the 1930s, but generally have not been a marketing success. ‘Instead’ cups were first released in the USA in 1996, and the manufacturer’s main claims were that they moulded to a woman’s internal shape, creating a seal that protected against leakage, mak...

Physical Description

The cup consists of a firm but flexible pink ring to which is attached, a loose, translucent diaphragm or 'cup'. The object is considered disposable, for single use only. The purple wrapper is square in shape having first been folded and heat sealed to create a centre fold, then each open end heat sealed to form a packet. It was originally one in a box of six individually wrapped cups. The wrapper has been cut open along one edge to access the cup.

Photocopied advertising material is included in the blue file.

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History

Notes

When the 'Instead SoftCup' was first released in the USA in 1996, the manufacturer sent a packet to Harry Finley for his Museum of Menstruation in Washington DC. As a consequence of his correspondence with the curator of health and medicine, Megan Hicks, Mr Finley donated one of the individually wrapped cups from this packet to the Powerhouse.